DORSET Cereals staff were joined by Duchy of Cornwall representatives and volunteers as they braved the cold to plant 500 trees.

Around 20 Poundbury residents worked with the Duchy of Cornwall and 60 Dorset Cereals workers to plant the trees for the Woodland Trust’s MOREWoods initiative.

The trees were planted at a site near Middle Farm Way in Poundbury during National Tree Week.

Members of staff from the Dorset Cereals office and factory were supervised by Woodland Trust representative Hamish Thompson.

Dorset Cereals’ head of communications Mandy Cooper said: “I posted a note in the office and factory stating that we wanted volunteers to help us to plant the trees and was thrilled with the response.

“Thanks must go to the Woodland Trust for all their help on the day, Kevin Hilton from the Duchy of Cornwall, the Poundbury residents and The Gardens Group for loaning us enough spades to plant all those trees.

“Everyone came prepared in hats and gloves and really got into the spirit of things.

“We had the trees planted in no time at all and the space is transformed already.

“I can’t wait to see it in a couple of years’ time when the trees have flourished.”

The planting project continued non-stop from noon until 3pm, with the team stopping only to gather more trees from a stock of native species.

Mandy Cooper said Dorset Cereals made a commitment to help local people plant more than 8,000 trees across the UK in support of the MOREwoods project earlier this year.

The scheme aims to increase native tree cover in Britain by encouraging people to plant trees on their own or community-owned land.

Claire Ollerenshaw, from the Woodland Trust, said: “The Trust’s long-term vision is to double native tree cover, which is best achieved by helping land owners plant on their own land.

“It is also vital that we are supported by companies like Dorset Cereals, helping spread awareness of our ambitious plans, as well as funding the planting of thousands of trees.”

Mandy Cooper added: “Planting trees is just one of the ways that we are working to reduce our impact on the environment.

“We use recycled board to make our cereal packets, recycle all our cardboard, source energy from renewable sources and feed our food waste to local pigs.

“Anyone who owns their own land can apply to the trust for support and during the tree-planting season a gang of us will be travelling around Dorset to help people who have applied to plant their trees.”